Is a Doctor Recomended for Monitoring CPAP Therapy

[PMD1953]

I have been using CPAP therapy for 5 years and getting excellent results. The Pulmonologist who diagnosed my sleep apnea is no longer in network for my Medicare plan. There are other sleep specialist in my plan. Is it recommended for a doctor to keep monitoring my therapy

[LSAT]

If you are not having problems and are monitoring your therapy, you should not need a doctor to pat you on your back and say "good job"...$150 please'
I have not seen a sleep doctor since I started therapy 12 years ago. If I need a prescription I get it from my Primary Care MD.

[zonker]

I have been using CPAP therapy for 5 years and getting excellent results. The Pulmonologist who diagnosed my sleep apnea is no longer in network for my Medicare plan. There are other sleep specialist in my plan. Is it recommended for a doctor to keep monitoring my therapy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

sorry, not making fun of you, honestly. one of the main tenets of this forum is that we don't use doctors past the first diagnosis stage. we like to take care of our own therapy.

one of the tools in our toolbox(hell, the main one.) is a free software program called oscar. you can download it from the link in my sig. with help from people here, you can see how you are going.

another major tenet here is that we reject the medical communities statement that an ahi of 5 is good. we like to aim for under 2. it just makes one feel better if one is under an ahi of 2.

if you want to download the software and post some charts, we'd be happy to look it over.

but if you are satisfied with where you are then good luck to you!

[palerider]

I have been using CPAP therapy for 5 years and getting excellent results. The Pulmonologist who diagnosed my sleep apnea is no longer in network for my Medicare plan. There are other sleep specialist in my plan. Is it recommended for a doctor to keep monitoring my therapy

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

sorry, not making fun of you, honestly. one of the main tenets of this forum is that we don't use doctors past the first diagnosis stage. we like to take care of our own therapy.

Honestly, if the doctors and such were actually taking care of our therapy, we wouldn't have to. If there weren't so many failures, this forum wouldn't even exist.

[jnk...]

getting excellent results.

As LSAT said, you need to be . . .

monitoring your therapy

. . . to document results for yourself in order to be sure your therapy is optimized. As a general rule, patients are much better and much more diligent than pros are at this, since they actually have skin in the game.

My father is not big on docs, so I set up one of my old machines for him. He loves it! If he wanted doc interaction, I would have suggested he go that route. Or if he had medical complications that interacted with PAP in some way, that would be a different deal completely. He views the machine mostly as an anti-snoring machine that makes him wake up feeling rested more than he views it as a true medical device. I consider that a completely valid approach to PAP.

If for some reason you need doc involvement to save money with paying for supplies through an insurance system, there may be a good reason for keeping a doc in the loop long term. And if you have complications with interacting comorbidities, it can be helpful to keep the sleep doc on your team. Otherwise, most sleep docs consider their real work done once they have made the diagnosis for a chosen approach.

The times a sleep doc has come in handy for me have been times I needed someone to tell a DME to do what I wanted. Many DMEs don't respect patients but tend to jump and ask how high on the way up when a doc office calls. Other than that, I have not found a use for their services long term in my case.

[Julie]

The problem is that sooo many doctors, while they might know the science of apnea in theory, know so little about Cpap - how it actually works (not just the theory), how to set it up properly vs just telling the DMEs to put it in default mode (Apap - min. 4, max 20) but have no idea how to gauge things, how to read reports meaningfully or adjust pressure settings (no one can actually breathe at 4) or why changes would be needed.

[chunkyfrog]

I fired an oncologist because he was doing nothing but telling me to, "lose weight".
I can get that for free by looking in a mirror--which also reminds me I am getting old . . .

[klm49]

I have been using CPAP therapy for 5 years and getting excellent results. The Pulmonologist who diagnosed my sleep apnea is no longer in network for my Medicare plan. There are other sleep specialist in my plan. Is it recommended for a doctor to keep monitoring my therapy

Only reason I see a sleep dr. is to keep my prescription and get my supplies. My DME supplier wants a new prescription every year.

[chunkyfrog]

Medicare only needs a yearly visit.
My PCP will not "do" my cpap prescriptions, or the face to face.
Probably getting a kickback from the pneumonologist . . .
If Medicare doesn't care, I don't need to either.

[zonker]

Only reason I see a sleep dr. is to keep my prescription and get my supplies. My DME supplier wants a new prescription every year.

if you don't mind me asking, who is the dme?

[ChicagoGranny]

There are plenty of DMEs who demand a new script every year. This is because they have had problems at some point getting insurance companies to pay.

[D.H.]

Bank in 1999, my sleep doc saw me and scheduled a baseline test. They found severe Sleep Apnea and scheduled a titration test. I had my machine delivered within a week. Twelve weeks later they scheduled a follow-up test with my own CPAP in the lab.

Back then, myinsurance paid for this. I don't think any plan would today.

I did see the sleep doc one per year, but I'm not sure it's really necessary.

[klm49]

Only reason I see a sleep dr. is to keep my prescription and get my supplies. My DME supplier wants a new prescription every year.

if you don't mind me asking, who is the dme?

It is a local company in Tyler, TX named CPS

Accvording to them Medicare doesn't pay to replace a dead power supply either

[LSAT]

I haven't seen a sleep doctor since my original diagnosis 12 years ago. Every year at my annual physical my PCP writes a prescription for CPAP and supplies...that's all he writes. That's just to verify that I am still using the machine. If I forget the prescription, my DME sends him an email or fax to get his verification. (Medicare Complete Ins).

[chunkyfrog]

. . .
Accvording to them Medicare doesn't pay to replace a dead power supply either

And I bet they NEVER CHECKED.
In similar circumstances, I have called insurance or Medicare--right in the office.
[[[Love my cellphone]]]
When they lie--call them on it.
---My bet is that the manufacturer would cover it if Medicare did not;
but the DME would have to do some WORK!